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The Mission

The Authority seeks to protect underground facilities of owners in the State of Maryland from destruction, damage or dislocation to prevent:

death or injury to individuals;

property damage to private and public property; and

the loss of services provided to the general public.

To accomplish this, the Authority seeks to promote, enhance, and assist the State of Maryland in furthering and enforcing the Maryland Underground Facilities Damage Prevention Law and programs through efforts that include consistent enforcement, effective public education, and the constant knowledge that public safety through reduced damages is our prime concern.

The new Law went into effect on October 1, 2010. Although created by the legislature, MDUFDPA is not a state agency and is prohibited by law from receiving any state budget funds or appropriations. The MDUFDPA is a stakeholder-run organization that has the ability to enforce the Miss Utility Law in the form of mandatory training or fines for violators.

All nine members of this Authority are appointed by the Governor to serve staggered two-year terms. They do not receive any compensation or any reimbursement for expenses.

The makeup of this Authority is as follows:

Two underground facility owners that are Maryland members of the Maryland/DC Subscribers Committee;

One person from the general public selected by the appointed and qualified members of the Authority.

Owner members will now have two full business days to respond to a Miss Utility ticket. For example, a locate request submitted on a Monday will require a member response by midnight on a Wednesday.

Tickets will be good for 12 full business days after the day on which the ticket is transmitted by the on-call system to an owner member.

An 18-inch “no mechanized equipment” zone is now a statewide requirement for excavations or demolitions, including Montgomery County.

Licensed architects, professional engineer, professional land surveyor and landscape architects are now able to process designer tickets for projects in the planning phase. Owner members have 15 full business days to respond to designer tickets.

The Maryland Department of Transportation, its administrations and the Maryland Transportation Authority are now Miss Utility owner members.